NW at 3-5am

[JaxMomNeedsSleep]

My DS is just over 5 months now.  he has been teething since he was 3 months old - no teeth yet though.  He has been waking the last 3 nights anywhere from 2:45am to 3:15am for a feeding.  After being fed, he will not settle to sleep.  I've tried shush pat, with no success.  I have never tried pu/pd till last night, but all he did was fight me and cry - he never actually settled down for me to do the pd part.  Here was our EASY

WU  7am

E 7am  6 oz
S  9:10 - 11:10

E 11:15  6 oz
S  1:30 - 2:30

E 3:00  6 oz
S 4:30 - 5:15

E 6:30  7 oz
BT 6:45  routine consists of bath, swaddle, wind down, white noise

Wakings:

7:45pm - topped up with a bottle of 3 oz
12:00am - fed 4 oz, went to sleep easily
3:45am - fed 6 oz, put him down, and he kept turning his head and banging his feet on the crib bed.  picked him up becuase i thought he had gas - he burped.  Put him back down with paci, he fell asleep then spit out the paci and woke up.  did this over and over.  tried shush pat - he just cried the whole time.  Attempted pu/pd, he just fought me the whole time.

In the end DH had to come take over, as I was at my wits end after 1.5 hours of trying to get him to sleep.  DH ended up unswaddling DS and letting him sleep on him.

needless to say we are all very cranky today.

what am i doing wrong?  I can't go on another night like this, and poor DH has been calling in sick to work to help out!

[becj86]

What's he doing when he first wakes at that time? Is he happy and chatty at all? Are you going in straight away?

[JaxMomNeedsSleep]

No, he is crying and fussing.  I've never been able to figure out his cries, but if you let him go, they escalate and sound quite desperate.

Usually around wake up time at 6:40 - 7am he is chatty and that is when i know it must be time to get up and start the day.  although the last few days, he has been very cranky in the mornings, as he has lost out on a fair amount of sleep.

i notice that his first nap of the day now is always 2 hours probably because he is exhausted from the night before.

last night was DH's birthday, and after being at home for the last 2 weeks, we went out.  DS went to bed later than normal.

Funny thing is he didn't wake one hour after BT as he normally does.  He slept for 4 hours, I fed him, and he went right back to sleep.

Then he woke at 3:45am and we couldn't get him to sleep again until 6am.  He just cries and cries.

Is this some sort of weird habitual waking?  The times do vary, but if he wakes anytime after 2, this seems to keep happening.

[becj86]

Any teething? Does the paci usually soothe him? Sometimes sucking can hurt the mouth when teething... have you tried pain meds?

[JaxMomNeedsSleep]

Seems like he has been teething since he was 2 months old.  No teeth have popped through though.  I have tried tylenol, and that hasn't helped.  I tried advil one night, and it had no effect at all.

he does use a paci, but doesn't seem to want it at night anymore.  it use to soothe him back to sleep but now when i put it in his mouth he just cries.  he does seem to need it to fall asleep though, and i try to remove it once he is asleep.  sometimes lately when he keeps it in his mouth, he will wake once it falls out, so seems like it might be becoming a prop, so i have tried to limit it's use.

 

[becj86]

Are you burping him after night feeds? Recently started solids? Discomfort in the tummy?

[JaxMomNeedsSleep]

yes, burping after feeding.  sometimes he just wont burp no matter what.  so if he wakes within a few minutes, i always pick him up and try again, and usually get a burp out of him.

i have started a few solids, usually some carrots or sweet potato once per day, at lunch time.  not much, just to get him used to the spoon.

i just find it strange that this is happening at a certain point in the night.  he wakes for his first night feed around 11pm - 12:30am and has no problem going straight to bed afterward.  it's always this second waking that is the problem, so i just don't think it is tummy related.

[becj86]

It is actually quite a different sensation for LO, having solid food going through their gut than milk - just like as a newborn he got used to having milk going through his gut and would wriggle and grimace... would you try bicycling his legs and some gentle tummy massage when he wakes - could be gas trapped further down which is more painful.

Maybe try solids a little earlier in the day and see if that shifts the time of this unsettledness...

I will see if anyone else has more ideas.

[Erin M]

Hmm, TBH I don't think it's the solids, but might you try one day without just to see if it makes a difference?
On a shorter 1-hour nap, like the one above, would he go down for a cat nap a little bit earlier?  Wondering if he's a bit OT at the end of the day and it's messing with your nights.  Doesn't seem like that should be it though, will keep thinking.